The demonstrators, for the 56th consecutive day, flocked to the streets in Portland, Oregon, and peacefully marched to the federal courthouse late on Friday.
They chanted slogans against federal agents that have been deployed to the city by the US administration to quell protests triggered by the brutal murder of unarmed African American George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody in May.
A demonstrator approaches federal law enforcement officers standing behind a metal fence during a protest against racial inequality and police violence in Portland, Oregon, US, July 25, 2020. (Photo by Reuters)
The federal forces once again fired teargas canisters and rubber bullets on a number of occasions to break up the rallies.
The UN human rights office has already called on US police and security forces in Portland and other cities not to use disproportionate force or unlawful detention against protesters.
The deployment of federal troops, ordered by President Donald Trump, has drawn widespread backlash from various popular rights groups and organizations, pitting state authorities against the White House.
Democratic leaders in Oregon say federal intervention has worsened the two-month crisis, and the state attorney general sued to allege some people had been whisked off the streets in unmarked vehicles.
Trump announced plans on Wednesday to dispatch a “surge” of federal agents to US cities amid widening crackdown on anti-racism protests.
President Donald Trump has announced plans to send a “surge” of hundreds of federal agents into several US cities.
The US president, who is running for re-election in November on a campaign of law and order, has threatened to deploy federal forces in more “Democrat-run cities” accused of being soft on crime.
US charges 18 Portland protesters
On Friday, US authorities leveled federal charges against 18 protesters in Portland as Trump presses ahead with the deployment of federal troops to US cities.
Five people were charged with suspicion of assaulting a federal officer, trespassing and creating a disturbance during the protest nights, and seven people were charged in connection with criminal conduct. Another six were charged over failing to comply with a lawful order.
The US Department of Justice said all of those charged had been released and that their trials or other court appearances are pending as their cases are being investigated.
Trump sued over immigrants exclusion order
In a separate development on Friday, a coalition of 35 US states, cities and counties sued Trump over his directive not to count undocumented immigrants when apportioning the 435 seats in the House of Representatives.
In the complaint filed in a federal court in New York City, the plaintiffs censured the US president’s plan as “unconstitutional” and stressed that everyone in the country must be counted regardless of their legal status.
The complaint said Trump’s directive could hurt communities by deterring immigrants from responding to the census now underway.
The move, as critics have said, is designed to favor Republicans since the Trump’s plan could cause a few House seats to shift from Democratic-leaning states with large immigrant populations to Republican-leaning states.
